The NIU women’s soccer team and first year coach Julie Colhoff now know their opponents.

The Huskies will open the season Aug. 10 at home with an exhibition match against the Creighton Jays, according to a July 17 press release. Regular season play will begin against defending Horizon League champions, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

Colhoff said there will be changes to the Huskies’ style of play, which will be more focused on keeping possession and making plays, rather than the direct, aggressive style of previous years.

“We want to be more possession-oriented,” Colhoff said. “We want to focus on our collective defending, and we think it’ll be more productive and fun to watch.”

NIU will open their 11 game conference play schedule Sept. 21 at home against Buffalo, and Sept. 23 at home against Akron. The true test starts after, when the Huskies travel Sept. 28 to play Bowling Green and Sept. 30 to visit defending Mid-American Conference Champions, Toledo.

Despite a middling 5-6 conference record last season, the Huskies hung in with the eventual champions, Toledo, in their only meeting of the season, losing 1-2 in double overtime.

The soccer season will end on a series of conference matchups with Kent State, Central Michigan and Western Michigan, all three teams who shut out the Huskies in their only meetings last season.

The Huskies lost two contests by more than one goal last season, neither of them conference games.

“Last year, I coached on the opposite side for a team that lost by one goal to NIU, and I thought at the time they had potential, and if they tapped into it they could be really good,” Colhoff said. “I’m looking forward to being on this side of things now. It’ll be a focus to tighten up our defense and prevent those one goal losses, but also put the ball in the net against our opponents as well.”

Colhoff was the top assistant coach at University of Illinois-Chicago last season, who the Huskies defeated 2-1 in double overtime on Aug. 30.

“We have more games on the road this season than we do at home, so if we can get a fanbase out for those home games and give people something to be excited over we can create a nice home field advantage,” Colhoff said. “I encourage people to come out, because I think the close-knit atmosphere at NIU is awesome.”

Women’s soccer players will report to DeKalb on July 31, and their practices begin on Aug. 1.

“I am excited to see the work everyone has done,” Colhoff said. “Everybody has really bought in and overall, I would say I’m excited about the entire team. We have an incoming group of new players who will be good for us as well, and I’m really just excited for the season to start.”